Mobility efforts driving productivity more than ever

With so many different options out there to boost worker productivity and efficiency, it is important for businesses to embrace at least one of them. So many firms are investing in new technologies for these purposes that if a company doesn’t it’s sure to be left in the dust by the competition. The trick is to find the solution that will provide the greatest benefit at the lowest cost of deployment. For many, the answer to that question is mobility.

In most instances, supporting mobile workers with improved apps and access to data will allow them to do their jobs from anywhere, at any time. Statistically, this boosts productivity simply by the fact that professionals are more likely to do extra work, during their commute or from home, because of this ease of access. Rather than waiting till the next day to wrap up a project, one employee might log on from his train ride home, while another might finish the extra work over the weekend from a coffee shop. The support of tablets and smartphones drives a willingness to do more, which enhances overall productivity and helps businesses get a little more out of their workforce. But is this more efficient?

In order to leverage the efficiency benefit of mobility, companies need to consider two sides of the puzzle – the devices employees are using and the apps on those devices. If both devices and apps are fully supported by the enterprise there shouldn’t be a problem. However, this would most likely require a firm to purchase devices for its workers and make proprietary apps, both of which cost a significant amount of resources to deploy a successful mobility strategy. This can be overcome by adopting a BYOD policy, but then device support isn’t assured. This is why companies need to embrace mobile BPM solutions.

Business process management software that supports mobile use is critical for such strategies because it allows firms to reduce the cost and time to develop its own, in-house apps, while supporting a broader array of user-preferred devices. This optimizes workflow around employee use, rather than a strict mobile strategy.

However, further initiatives may change how a company goes about mobility, which means an adaptable BPM platform is critical for success. By investing in the right solution up front, businesses will be able to drive mobility benefits, adapt to innovations within the related industries and continue offering workers the support they need to work mobile, and happy.